In cafe society, Adani backflip a ‘betrayal’

Constituents say Jackie Trad risks losing her seat if she backs the contentious Adani coalmine.

Clementine Anderson, 23, and friend Harley Wilson, 20, are opposed to the Adani project. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Clementine Anderson believes she’s one of many voters who will abandon Jackie Trad at the next state election if the Deputy Premier does not speak out against the Adani mine.

Ms Anderson, 23, who has lived all her life in Brisbane’s West End, went against her ­initial impulse to vote for the Greens in the 2017 election after she saw a tough-talking Ms Trad debating her opponent in a local hotel.

But she said she would revert to the Greens at the October 2020 election if the Treasurer and leader of Labor’s dominant Left faction “rolls over” on the Adani project.

Ms Anderson said she understood why the Palaszczuk government was at pains to win the support of disenfranchised ­voters who punished federal Labor on Saturday.

“But locally, for Jackie Trad, I think it’s a mistake,” Ms Anderson said.

“Local politicians need to be working for their constituents, and people here are against the Adani mine.”

Ms Anderson said part of the reason she voted for Ms Trad, the member for South Brisbane, was “her strong voice” and public support for renewables.

“If she were to roll over on that, I think it would be a bit of a betrayal,” Ms Anderson said.

“I think a lot of people wouldn’t vote for her if Adani goes through.”

Ms Trad is in danger of losing the inner-city seat at the 2020 poll if last weekend’s federal election results from the seat of Griffith, which experienced a 7.2 per cent swing to the Greens and includes South Brisbane, are repeated. Ms Trad came close to losing in 2017 after a 10 per cent swing towards the Greens reduced her margin to 3 per cent.

Ms Anderson’s friend, 20-year-old Sydneysider Harley Wilson, lives in Anthony Albanese’s electorate of Grayndler, in NSW.

A Greens voter whose father lives in a mining community in Queensland, Mr Wilson said he owed his comfortable life to the industry, but could not support its future because of his concerns about climate change.